One of the things missing from my Workshop at LHV is a laser.  I’ve gotten used to being able to use the one at HIW for making jigs, various engraving projects, and even cutting thin wood and acrylic for various projects.   Prices have fallen and capabilities have increased on inexpensive Diode lasers to the point that I finally got one for LHV!

I purchased an NEJE Master 2S Plus 30W laser and added an Ortur Rotator:

NEJE Master 2S Plus laser with Ortur YRR Rotator attached.

While it can’t cut wood (very well) or do anything to acrylic (the light from the laser diode goes right through acrylic), it still is very useful for engraving.  The nice thing about the open frame is that I can move it to the work, rather than having to have the work fit under the laser AND it is a larger exposure area than my CO2 Laser (420mmx255mm vs 300mmx200mm).  Consequently, if I need to engrave something 6 inches thick, I can simply lift this frame over the workpiece and expose it.  A 6 inch thick piece would never fit inside my CO2 laser.

Since this laser is much lower power and a safer wavelength than the CO2 laser, the open frame doesn’t pose any serious safety issue.  I still wear protective glasses, but it’s much easier to manage.

The rotator is very flexible and with the work bench jig I made for it, I can hang the laser over the side and handle fairly large diameter objects.  In the photo above you see a wine glass on the rotator.

Since the glass is clear, it will pass the laser light through, but, with the arcylic paint I sprayed on the glass, the paint absorbs the laser light and etches the glass.  The process it pretty easy (once I tuned the technique) and here is the first useful result:

Prototype of Wine glass etched with Laser

The plan is to update our current glassware at LHV adding the logo to match some glassware our daughter gave us for Christmas.